Why is there not a thread on this?

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There's a revolution going on in Mexico right now. A civil war about to pop off because the government pulled another election fraud and the people aren't taking it anymore. They've been taking to the streets and shutting shit down for the past couple months. Teachers have stormed radio stations, entire sections of the government are on the side of the people and are refusing to cooperate with the guy that supposedly won. The guy that the people beleive should have won is creating a "alternative" paralel government. I've been following this in the newspaper (I live on a border state) as it's been escalating but havn't seen anything about in on tv. Maybe that's why there's not already a thread on this. Maybe yall just havn't heard. THIS IS HOW IT SHOULD HAVE WENT DOWN HERE BOTH TIMES BUSH STOLE OUR PRESIDENCY!!!

Both sides braced for Mexico violence

Web Posted: 09/01/2006 12:21 AM CDT

Dane Schiller

Express-News Mexico Bureau Chief

MEXICO CITY — Both men are in their mid-30s, and say that they believe they are defending democracy and that they are ready for a violent clash today, if that is what is necessary.

Yet they could hardly be more different.

One is a buffed federal policeman and country boy who sports a buzz cut.

The other is a shaggy-haired, city-slicker leftist who demands Mexico change.

Should they face off along a barrier to protect President Vicente Fox as he gives his final state-of-the-nation address today, it won't be a fair fight.

The officer — one of the many nicknamed Robocops for the 1987 movie about a cop outfitted with state of the art technology — has a helmet, shield, body armor and other goodies issued by the government.

"We're defending the nation," said the officer, who gave his name as Javier. "We won't be provoked."

In the past, people have tried to draw the Robocops into action by hitting them with bottles, burning them with Molotov cocktails or soaking them with bucketfuls of feces.

The cops have been accused of crossing the line by beating people mercilessly and tearing apart private property.

The activist — one of many who have filled the streets in support of populist Andrés Manuel López Obrador — has shin and forearm guards he bought at a sporting-goods store. They're still in the bag.

The stage is set for Fox to defend his legacy and present his administration's accomplishments during a speech, to be televised live from a besieged congressional compound in the heart of Mexico City.

"I will be there," vowed Manuel Zuñiga, the López Obrador supporter with the sports gear.

He said that while he's ready to fight, if there's any violence, it will be because the police draw first blood.

He offered a caution for the thousands of police who have been deployed to stand guard behind welded 12-foot steel walls: "Don't go against the people."

Nobody knows what will happen.

There's strong talk that Fox may avoid trouble in the streets and rowdiness within Congress by passing on the speech entirely, and simply handing the text to Congress.

At a minimum, he's expected to avoid subjecting his motorcade to peril by arriving in a helicopter.

It appeared the government is not taking chances. For weeks, an army of federal police wearing riot gear has stood behind the 12-foot-high steel wall protecting the compound.

There also were water cannons mounted on trucks.

Roads were blocked and officials announced late Thursday that most subway stations in the area, as well as near the presidential compound, would be closed — a quick way to ensure that if demonstrators want to get anywhere near Congress, they're going to have to walk for miles.

López Obrador has established a miles-long tent city in the business and tourist districts to protest a July 2 election he lost to Fox's former energy minister, Felipe Calderón.

López Obrador and members of his Democratic Revolution Party, known as the PRD, say the election was a fraud.

The demonstrators already have wreaked traffic chaos on this city and last clashed with police in early August, when they tried to establish an encampment outside Congress.

Tear gas was launched and bottles were thrown. As many as a dozen people were injured, resulting in a beefed up, edgy law-enforcement presence.

Mexico City-based analyst Joy Langston said these are difficult times, with police and activists expected to square off multiple times this month.

"My dearest hope is there will be no armed violence, but there could be some heads knocked together," she said, adding that crowds will try to taunt police into violence. "The worst thing that could happen is that people be shot."

She predicted there could broken noses and shouting today, but that the odds are against any deaths.

López Obrador has said his movement is one of peaceful, civil resistance.

At the same time, he has branded Fox a "traitor of democracy" and said neither he nor Calderón deserves to lead.

PRD leader Leonel Cota reiterated that his party's congressional delegates won't just interrupt, but will stop Fox from delivering his address.

He won't say what they will do, but in the past, opposition party members have chanted, jeered, waved signs and turned their backs on Fox.

"The president moved against our movement, and our movement will not respond," he said as he headed into a meeting to discuss what actions to take.

Outside Congress, federal riot police were standing guard. They'd been living on the grounds for weeks, working in shifts, and expected to be away from their families for about a month.

When asked how he feels when people refer to him as an infamous Robocop, the officer named Javier smiled and offered a simple response: "I feel beautiful."

MEXICO CITY — Waving flags and hoisting fists, about 150 opposition party lawmakers took over the floor of congress Friday and prevented President Vicente Fox from delivering his state-of-the-nation address.

It is believed to be the first time in modern Mexican history that a president could not give the annual speech to outline his administration's accomplishments.

An hour later, Fox went on live TV and delivered the speech directly to the people from his presidential compound, known as Los Pinos.

At the congress, surrounded by bodyguards and wearing the presidential sash, Fox remained dignified, giving a short statement in the crowded lobby and submitting a printed copy of his report.

He spoke into a handheld microphone, his deep voice appearing to surprise the protesting senators and lower house deputies of the Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, as it boomed over loudspeakers in the cavernous congressional chamber.

"The attitude of these legislators makes it not possible for me to read this," Fox said, moments before he turned and walked back to his motorcade.

The PRD and Fox have been at odds for months about the July 2 presidential election won by his former energy minister, Felipe Calderón.

PRD candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who is appealing the results on the grounds of fraud, has rallied thousands of people in the capital's streets.

To pressure the government and members of the electoral tribunal that has yet to rule on the appeal, López Obrador supporters have created traffic chaos with a tent city about four miles long that stretches through the financial and tourist districts.

They brand Fox a traitor to democracy and say he used his power as president to help Calderón win.

"We feel great. Who knows how he feels?" said Rosario Ibarra, a 79-year-old PRD senator and icon of human-rights activism.

During his televised speech, Fox told the sharply divided nation that Mexico was more democratic and free than ever before.

"Citizens are the best witnesses of this historic process," the president said.

Fox acknowledged the past year has been particularly sensitive and challenged López Obrador and his rivals without naming them.

"Whoever attacks our laws and institutions also attacks our history and Mexico," the speech continued. "No one can say that he supports the people when he attacks them."

The PRD had warned that it would keep Fox from delivering his sixth state-of-the nation address, known as the informe, to a congress that for days has been ringed by security barricades, water cannons and thousands of riot police.

"Mexico requires harmony, not anarchy; this is a time for unity," said Fox, who added that a country that is divided cannot move ahead.

"We have the obligation to promote the understanding that will lead us to find common ground and reconcile divergences and opposing visions and interests," he said.

The address, unlike previous such speeches, was not packed with statistics. It was written amid one of the more turbulent periods in recent Mexican history.

Hours before Fox was scheduled to deliver it, López Obrador called on his followers — some of whom were outfitted for a clash with police — to stay in their campsites and not be provoked into a riot.

Given the rise of some radical groups in Mexico, López Obrador had to be careful to protect his movement, Mexico political analyst Federico Estevez said.

"The choice between tactical withdrawal and escalation is impossible," Estevez said. "Better to procrastinate, and that is what he has chosen for now."

The turbulence shows how much has changed since Fox, a former Coca-Cola executive, rallied Mexicans from across the political spectrum in 2000 to put his "government of change" in power.

Fox had a nearly impossible mission from the start.

He made many vows on the campaign trail and left millions of Mexicans convinced life would dramatically improve overnight if they helped him defeat the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which ruled like a dictatorship for 71 years.

Although Fox can tick off many examples of change during his presidency — from more middle-class people being able to buy cars and get loans to the poorest of the poor getting electricity and cement floors — many are disillusioned, even those who still like him as a person.

Mexicans, accustomed to a strongman-type president whose words are basically law, often were taken aback by Fox's style, which called for a more democratic approach and more of a consensus within government.

Fox's initiatives also were bogged down by a gridlocked congress in which rival party lawmakers defied him at every turn.

Mexico's first lady, Marta Sahagún de Fox — whom the president married while in office — also brought scandal to the administration, from her expensive evening gowns to her own presidential ambitions to allegations her children got rich off her contacts.

Calderón now stands to inherit a much more divided country than the one Fox began to lead six years ago — but he may actually have more success.

Jeffrey Weldon, a Mexico City political scientist, downplayed disaster scenarios for Mexico, saying Calderón's National Action Party has struck key alliances with PRI legislators to allow a comfortable majority without having to work with the PRD.

"Things are not that bad," Weldon said. "We see López's insurrection in Mexico City right in front of our nose. The rest of the country doesn't care so much."

Daniel Ludlow, a congressman for Calderón and Fox's party, agreed.

"We can be even more successful this time," he said. "We have learned the hard way the importance of building bridges."